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Blackmon leads Rockies past Giants

Rookie Paulsen hits two-run homer in win

By Nick Groke

The Denver Post

Posted:
09/01/2014 09:53:01 PM MDT

Updated:
09/01/2014 09:53:20 PM MDT

Rockies' Charlie Blackmon, second from right, is swarmed by teammates after Blackmon's walkoff, RBI-single against the Giants in the ninth inning of the Rockies 10-9 victory Monday in Denver. (David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

DENVER -- Hunter Pence, the Giants' awkwardly quick right fielder, runs with the grace of a three-legged gazelle. He's hunched over and determined. His broken-wrist warm-up swings hide a pure power stroke.

More importantly, Pence has played all but five innings for the Giants this season, maximizing his time over a National League-high 139 games. In five at-bats Monday, he homered and doubled with four RBIs and two runs.

The Rockies countered Pence's power with Ben Paulsen, a bearded utility man with 14 games on his rookie resume, and Charlie lead-off guy Blackmon, the nearest player the Rockies have to a Pence-level regular.

Paulsen's two-run, seventh-inning home run pushed the Rockies forward and Blackmon's funk-busting, two-out single in the bottom of the ninth gave Colorado a 10-9 victory over the Giants at Coors Field.

The Rockies won for just the second time in seven games.

Paulsen, recalled from the minor-leagues Monday, used his one at-bat to make a big difference, blasting an 83-mph changeup from Jean Machi to the right field mezzanine.

And Blackmon, who was 0-for-4 with two strike outs when he walked to the plate in the ninth, roped a line drive to right field off Sergio Romo to score Michael McKenry in a walk-off.

Blackmon's hit salvaged the top of the Rockies' order, which went 3-for-20 with four strike outs and no runs.

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Paulsen on Monday officially made his big-league debut in an oddball time warp — he pinch-hit in a resumed game from May 22, singling to Pence in right.

Paulsen's call-up to the big-leagues, set against the backdrop of Pence's season-long regularity, illustrates just where the Rockies are going down the stretch in 2014.

The Giants on Monday called up five players from the minor leagues on the first day baseball allows for game-day rosters to expand beyond 25. And they'll likely call up five more by today.

The Rockies, on the other hand, recalled two players and added just one. So why the big difference?

Colorado, with nine players now on the disabled list in a waning season full of injuries, doesn't have many players left to call up.

The Rockies recalled first baseman-outfielder Paulsen and starter-turned-reliever Yohan Flande. And they added middle infielder Rafael Ynoa to their extended roster.

"We called up three guys to help us with the circumstances today," manager Walt Weiss said before the Rockies resumed a rain-delayed game from May 22. "Without them, we'd be in trouble. Our bench would be empty on the first play of the game."

To make room for Ynoa, the Rockies moved Boone Logan to the 60-day disabled list. Logan is a perfect example of the Rockies' stretch-run conundrum. For a team already looking toward 2015, Colorado is waiting more for its best players to return than for its future young stars to arrive.

Flande (5.52 ERA in nine games) and Paulsen (.382 in 12 games) already have time with the Rockies. Ynoa, 27, spent eight years in the Los Angeles Dodgers system before debuting Monday. He hit .297 with five home runs in 115 games for Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Going forward, it's likely the Rockies will recall pitcher Chad Bettis from the Sky Sox as a starter. But his arrival was delayed after missing a start Monday because of a tender shoulder.

The Rockies also are likely to recall pitcher Eddie Butler from Double-A Tulsa after the Drillers finish the Texas League playoffs.

But Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson, both Double-A standouts, are less likely to get a call-up.

A May 22 game, suspended because of nasty weather, got its second chance Monday at Coors Field under sunny Labor Day skies. It left the Rockies wishing for a third chance.

Pence's eighth-inning double finally, without mercy, gave the Giants a 4-2 victory over the Rockies.

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